This invention relates to a product of fish meat paste simulating the meat of macrura in both taste and texture. More particularly, this invention relates to a product of fish meat paste which give a particular oral sensation or resistance to mastication as if the meat of relatively large-sized species of macrura such as lobsters and spring lobsters were eaten.
Many people like the meat of macrura since it contains little fat and has not only a light flavor but also a superior texture which gives a particular oral sensation or a kind of crispness combined with elasticity when the meat is bitten. In recent years, however, the supply cannot meet the demand, and lobsters have become a rather expensive seafood.
In the fish meat paste product industry various attempts have been made to develop substitutes for the meat of natural macrura. The known substitues, however, comprise nothing more than fish meat paste mixed with the meat of natural macrura or seasoned with an essence extracted from natural macrura so that they have merely a taste of flavor similar to that of natural macrura meat and cannot satisfy the consumers with respect to the oral sensation experienced upon eating them.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,752 discloses a product of simulated shrimp meat which not only has a taste and flavor similar to that of real shrimp meat but also a particular oral sensation or a kind of crispness combined with elasticity as to satisfy consumers. However, the patent is directed to a product of fish meat paste simulating chiefly small-sized shrimp.
In the field of marine product industry studies and experiments are believed to be being conducted, but to the best knowledge of the present inventors, except the above-mentioned patent there have been no technical reports or literature on the method of giving to the product of fish meat paste not only taste and flavor similar to those of actual lobster meat but also the particular oral sensation experienced upon eating natural lobster meat.
The reason why there have been very few proposals to meet the demand for products of fish meat paste having taste and texture similar to those of real lobster meat is believed to be because lobster meat comprises a plurality of muscle fibers closely intertwined so that it is extremely difficult to make such closely intertwined muscle fibers from any other food material than actual lobster meat.
As a result of various studies and experiments conducted since the accomplishment of the invention desclosed in the above-mentioned U.S. patent, the present inventors have found out that by freezing mannan gel to denature or modify the saccharide and adding the denatured or modified mannan gel to fish meat paste in a predetermined ratio, mixing the gel and paste and coagulating the mixture by heating, it is possible to obtain a product of fish meat paste approximating lobster meat.